Mitakuye Oyasin

Those of you who regularly follow this website know that one of my favorite expressions is “Mitakuye Oyasin.”  I learned it many years ago.  As a Buddhist or Hindu might greet you with “Namaste,” “I salute the God within you,” the Sioux Indian would say, “Mitakuye Oyasin,” which means “We are all family.” As I walk …

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, a day which was first declared a federal holiday in 1863 in the midst of the War Between the States by President Abraham Lincoln.  It pains me to think that 150 years later, it is more often referred to as the day before black Friday. The year has been a challenging …

Uncivilized

Galena, Alaska sits on the north bank of the Yukon River on the 64th N parallel, just two parallels shy of the Arctic Circle.  Flying out of Galena’s now inactive Air Station in the summer of 1973 in my T-33, I once saw the sun set and rise within a 15-minute stretch.  As I climbed …

Thomas Merton, Chief Yellow Lark and the Gifts of Sunrise and Sunset …

Oh, to be thankful for what we have and not rue what we do not have!  That is noble and worthy of the Vitruvian Man. I wish I knew more about Chief Yellow Lark.  Many months ago, I learned the Sioux prayer whose translation is attributable to him.  Yet search as I might, I find …